Tiger's Den
by SharkAria
Summary: Kaoru will do whatever it takes to get back to Kenshin after Enishi kidnaps her and brings her to his island prison - even if it means protecting Enishi from his own power hungry subordinates. Sort of Enishi/Kaoru, as well as Kenshin/Kaoru.
1. Chapter 1

Enishi/Kaoru, sort of.

A/N: I have messed around with some of the timing and outline of events in canon during Kaoru's time on the island. This is a rewrite/repost of something I wrote almost five years ago. Now that I am better at writing, I wanted to try again. More copious notes at the bottom.

TW: There are a couple references to Kaoru's fear of sexual assault in this fic. Nothing like that occurs, or is even threatened by Enishi, but please beware of some of the character's concerns.

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Kaoru doesn't understand Chinese, but when she catches Wu Heishin's hulking bodyguards making comments to each other while leering at her, she comprehends that Enishi may not have total control over his underlings.

The four identically-dressed men never cast a glance in her direction when Enishi is around. Then, their eyes remain riveted on him, pupils wild with fright - strange facial expressions on men who look as though they have nothing to fear from anyone. But a few days later, after when Enishi has left her alone again, she walks past the men practice fighting on the beach. They glare at her like resentful predators, caged by Enishi's command to stay away from her. She returns their stares, meeting their eyes one at a time, but she hurries back through the wooded pathway to the waystation house on the bluff.

One evening, Kaoru passes Wu in the hallway and accidentally brushes against the sleeve of his black overcoat; he spits out an angry stream of Shanghainese curses that he bites back abruptly when the door to Enishi's room creaks open. After that, Kaoru does not find him or his men on the second floor of the house.

Another day, Kaoru overhears Enishi and Wu talking in the downstairs study, their voices flowing in and out of accented Japanese and a musical Chinese dialect. Kaoru eavesdrops out of view beyond the door frame, and she makes out enough to determine that Wu is impatient for Enishi's revenge plot against Kenshin to wrap up. Wu wants to move forward with his own plans, and he doesn't want to wait much longer.

That night Kaoru lays on her mattress, thinking about what she has heard. It's obvious that Enishi frustrates Wu, and Kaoru's presence is grinding the two even further apart. The relationship between the two gangsters matters little to her, except that Enishi has promised to send her back to Tokyo eventually, whereas Wu likely finds that promise unnecessary and inconvenient to carry out.

She settles deeper into the folds of her threadbare bathrobe as she puzzles further. If Wu and the four underlings realize the extent of Enishi's injuries from his fight with Kenshin, they might choose to take the opportunity to get rid of him. And if Wu and his men take out Enishi, Kaoru's already problematic situation will grow even worse. Enishi tormented her and her friends in Tokyo, but here on the island, he provides the only protection from Wu and his henchmen.

The next morning, Kaoru passes Enishi stepping gingerly up the staircase. The bruises on his face have faded to an ugly yellow-brown, and the bandages on his arms are starting to fray. He stops on Kaoru's stair and gazes at her with dull eyes, but he does not speak to her. He continues ascending slowly until he reaches the landing, then walks across the hallway and opens the wide doors that lead to the balcony.

 _He's too weak_ , Kaoru frets. Wu might cease to regard him as a threat, might stop following his orders, might leave him to rot on the island and sell Kaoru to a Shanghai whorehouse. Without Enishi, she won't be able to get back to Tokyo, to her friends and to Kenshin.

 _I won't let that happen,_ she resolves to herself. She hurries downstairs to go into the kitchen.

Until now, Kaoru, and as far as she can tell, everyone else on the island has been eating hard biscuits brought in from the ship, but they taste like _tatami_ , and they can't possibly have enough nutrition to help Enishi regain his strength. She starts a fire in the enamel wood stove to heat up its iron surface, the way she's seen Tae do at the Akabeko restaurant, then fills a big pot with water from the cistern in the corner. She dumps what she estimates to be the right amount of dry rice into the pot, and once the stove surface is hot enough, she plunks the pot on top. She digs through supplies in the cupboard and finds rubber-stoppered glass jars stuffed with picked vegetables and square tins filled with cheap fish.

The water bubbles over the side of the pot and flashes into steam when it hits the stovetop. Kaoru sticks a big wooden spoon in and tests the rice to find that it is, if not exactly fluffy, at least cooked through. She scoops the rice into a ceramic bowl and spoons some of the vegetables on top straight out of a jar, then slaps a slab of oily whitefish from a tin onto a little square plate. She arranges the items on a wooden tea tray and grabs a pair of chopsticks to complete the place setting. Tae wouldn't serve this meal at her establishment, but out here it should pass for dinner.

Kaoru adjusts her bathrobe and takes the tray upstairs to the double doors leading to the balcony. She presses down on the handle with her elbow and shoves open the door with her hip, then steps out.

"Enishi?" She calls. He is seated facing away from her; he does not acknowledge her. She hears the voices of Wu's men chattering down in the yard below.

She walks toward him and sets the tray on a table nearby. "I made you some dinner. If you're making a meal for one, it's just as easy to make it for two -"

Instead of responding, Enishi moans a low, feral cry of pain. His shoulders begin to tremble and he tears at his hair with clawed fingers. Kaoru rushes to him and places a hand on his bicep. "Enishi, are you alright?" She whispers quietly, trying to get a glimpse of his face.

At Kaoru's touch, Enishi lurches forward out of the chair. He falls to his hands and knees, coughing, crying out his sister's name between curses. He retches, interrupting his raving at unseen tormentors.

Wu's men stop talking, and Kaoru knows they are listening. Surely they will come and look into the cause of the commotion. If they see Enishi like this, still so weak from his injuries and lost in hallucinations, they may make decide that it is time for them to wrest the organization from their boss's grasp.

The porch door downstairs slams as the men enter the house. Kaoru knows she must protect Enishi to keep herself safe.

She drags Enishi's limp form off the balcony and into his bedroom, which opens onto the balcony through a separate set of doors. She drops him on the thick wool rug; his glassy eyes stare up at the wooden beams on the ceiling. As she hears thumping footsteps on the stairs, she runs to the door that leads to the interior hallway and slides the deadbolt into place, then slams shut the exterior double doors and flips the shutters closed. A moment later, there is an urgent bang on the door and a jiggle of the door knob.

Wu's voice comes through in muffled Chinese. Kaoru doesn't understand, but she can guess what he's asking. She glances back at Kenshin's brother-in-law.

Enishi is still in his semi-conscious state on the floor; he's not even in this world, much less capable of answering his second in command. Kaoru's heart leaps into her throat.

There is only one way for Kaoru to save herself, to keep Wu from breaking down the door to find out the extent of Enishi's injuries. She swallows and exhales, willing herself to lower the register of her voice. "Enishi and I are - occupied -"

She hopes her breathlessness comes across as playful rather than terrified.

For a long time - too long - she can hear nothing from the other side of the door. Finally, she hears Wu say quietly, "Kamiya," in explanation to his men. She hears several agitated voices at once, growling in Chinese, and she hopes this means that they believe that she and Enishi are - in the room - she can't even finish the thought.

Enishi groans again. There is another smattering of Chinese voices and a low guffaw from the other side of the door. Evidently the solid wood barrier masks the difference between sounds of pain and pleasure. Wu speaks again, this time in rough Japanese. "Excuse my interruption. Should you need me, I'll be in the parlor. My men will be outside." The men lumber down the stairs. The front door squeaks and slams shut.

Kaoru clutches at the collar of her bathrobe as she gasps in air. Her anxiety subsides, leaving vertigo in its wake. Afternoon sunlight streams in through the slats in the wooden shutters, creating zig zags across her vision. She leans against the wall to steady herself; it isn't enough, and she sinks to the floor.

After a few calming breaths, Kaoru dares to look across the dark room to where Enishi lies. He has rolled onto his side and is now struggling to rise. His jacket has tangled up around his shoulders and in his dazed state, he can't seem to work his way out of it. She crawls toward him and adjusts the fabric so that his body no longer pins him to the floor. He sits up, clutching his head. She expects him to ask what she is doing with his usual rude tone, but when she looks into his glazed eyes, she realizes that he is still halfway in his imaginary world.

Kaoru looks over to the low, carved wooden frame with a wide futon covered by dark embroidered linens. The bed is easily the most expensive piece of furniture Kaoru has ever seen. Enishi should really be recuperating on it instead of flopped here on the floor. She hooks his elbow over her shoulder and puts her arm around his waist. "Come on, Enishi, just a few steps," she encourages.

Enishi staggers to his feet, shifting most of his weight on Kaoru. Her knees nearly buckle, but she is strong and holds him up until she makes it to the edge of the futon. She tries to ease him onto the bed, but he collapses, bringing her down with him. She finds herself trapped face down against the linens, with Enishi pinning her in place.

For one terrifying moment, she fears that Enishi has orchestrated this trap, and that he will now do all the things to her that she feared Wu's men would try, but then she feels him shiver over her. He takes a sharp breath and sobs, a cry that seizes his entire body. His fingers dig into Kaoru's shoulder as he wails the name of his sister again.

Kaoru's thoughts shoot down to Wu, who is undoubtedly listening for suspicious noises. If Enishi keeps this up, the four bodyguards will fly up to beat down the door.

Kaoru yanks an arm out from Enishi's crazed embrace and flips on to her back. She pulls herself forward enough to where Enishi is grasping her waist, sobbing into her lap.

"Enishi, hush, let's stay quiet," Kaoru coaxes as she leans down, her breath puffing against his ear. She strokes a hand through his silky silvery hair in what she hopes is a comforting gesture - she has never been good at this soft, motherly stuff - and listens for steps on the stairs. She sighs in relief that she doesn't hear any.

Eventually, Enishi's sobs subside and his breathing evens out. He snuggles his head into Kaoru's lap and wraps his arm over her legs. Not knowing what else to do, she leans back into the pillows and pets his head cautiously, as if caressing a sleeping tiger. He seems to have descended into a deep sleep, but every time she shifts away to get up, he grips her hip hard and whimpers. Resigned to her position, she gently lifts the glasses from Enishi's face and folds them up, placing them on the lacquered bedside table. She's a little stiff from sitting like this, but even if Enishi would let her move, it's not as if she can leave the room for a few hours anyway - her deception of Wu depends on her staying put for several more hours. At least her improvised plan seems to be keeping her and Enishi safe, for now.

Fearful exhaustion washes over her, and she finds that she cannot keep her eyes open for one moment longer. She leans back against the soft cushions and falls fast asleep.

When she awakens, it is late at night. Weak lines of moonlight breach the shutters, allowing her to see the outlines of the furniture in the room, but not much more. The only sounds she hears are the crashing of the waves against the beach and Enishi's quiet, even breathing.

She has sunk deep into the cushions on the bed, and her neck feels stiff and crooked. Her left foot tingles painfully as a result of Enishi's head squishing her legs. The immediate threat from Wu having passed, her wretched fear is replaced with anger over Enishi's crazy episode putting them both in harm's way. Anger feels good; it feels righteous and pure, and helps block out all thoughts of how she has never been this intimately close to any man before, much less Kenshin's self-declared arch enemy.

She tries to shove Enishi off of her without success. On her second attempt, Enishi's head pops up reflexively. His fingers dig into her hip and he shakes his head, fighting off his interrupted dreams.

"Hey," Kaoru whispers. "Move."

Kaoru can't see much more than the silhouette of Enishi's head and his heavy lidded eyes, still cloudy with sleep and possibly his other imaginary world. He smacks his lips and swallows drily. He can probably still taste the vomit on his his lips, Kaoru realizes with disgust. Without acknowledging Kaoru's command, Enishi sighs heavily and pulls Kaoru down the bed and toward him.

Kaoru's stomach drops and she is terrified that this time he really will do something awful to her, but then he settles against her shoulder, snuggles his head under her chin, and tucks his arm over her waist. Kaoru freezes. Enishi's position reminds her of a small child cuddling against his mother after suffering from a nightmare. This would be adorable if it were little Ayame or Suzume, but it's just uncomfortable with this homicidal gangster.

Enishi's breathing soon returns to the calm, even inhales and exhales that indicate sleep. Kaoru taps his shoulder experimentally but he's obviously out cold again. The feeling in her foot is returning with painful pinpricks, and she rotates her ankle to speed the process. Being trapped in the arms of a delusional maniac is far from ideal, but at least she doesn't have to pee. She closes her eyes again and drifts off into a fitful sleep.

When Kaoru opens her eyes again, it is morning; bright equatorial sunlight illuminates the room. The shutters have been pulled open, and the bed linens have been tucked over her body. For a moment, she thinks she is alone, but then her eyes land on Enishi, who is perched on the edge of a chair in the corner of the room. She jumps, startled, then wills herself to relax her muscles. If he had wanted to hurt her, he would have done so by now.

Enishi has changed out of his bathrobe and now wears a sleeveless blue shirt and silky orange pants. He leans his bare elbows on his knees, his chin resting on one hand, his sheathed _watou_ laying threateningly across his thighs. He glares at her over the top of his glasses.

"You - you fainted," Kaoru explains, as though she is the one who needs to justify her presence in his bed, with all the doors in the room locked from the inside. "I dragged you in here so you could rest."

"Why did you not leave me on the balcony?" He asks in accented Japanese. His newly clear eyes bore into hers, and she wonders why she ever had the impression that he could not take care of himself.

"I was afraid of what Wu and those other guys might do to you - to us - if they saw you looking weak -"

"Your fears are unfounded," Enishi interrupts. He rises abruptly, breaking their eye contact, and swings his sword over one shoulder. Without another word, he stalks to the hallway door and unlocks it, then slams it shut behind him.

Kaoru's mouth hangs open as she listens to his heavy footsteps going down the stairs. _Now what?_ she thinks.

She runs a hand through her messy hair, then reties her ponytail, trying to clear her head, and adjusts her bathrobe, wishing for the millionth time that Enishi would give her some actual useable clothes.

Her stomach gurgles, protesting the fact that she skipped dinner the previous night. She can't possibly face what is shaping up to be an even weirder day than yesterday without a full belly. She stands, shoves her feet into her bedraggled house slippers, and peers out the door to make sure that no one is lurking in the hallway, then carefully exits Enishi's room. The door to her own room remains shut; she blushes in spite of herself. What would Tae or Megumi say about her spending the night in Enishi's arms? What would Kenshin - ?

Tears well up in her eyes, and she swallows hard. She resolves to put all thoughts of Kenshin and her friends out of her mind for now; she won't be able to come up with a plan if she starts crying every few minutes. Squaring her shoulders, she walks down the staircase and heads for the kitchen.

Once there, she tosses some canned sardines over the rice leftover from the previous day. The food won't make much of a breakfast, but it will fill her stomach, and throwing it together gives her an activity to keep her brain from straying to thoughts of Enishi's delusion-induced embrace, which would have felt almost tender if he weren't such a freak. Standing at the counter, she takes a few bites from her bowl and grimaces at the taste, then puts together a second bowl for Enishi.

The kitchen door that leads out to the yard screeches open. Enishi saunters into the kitchen. His face and the front of his clothes are spattered in fresh blood. He stinks like a slaughterhouse, or a battlefield clinic.

Kaoru gasps and drops her chopsticks; they clatter to the floor, forgotten.

Enishi leans his sheathed sword against the wall. "Wu and his remaining men now understand the consequences if they attempt to harm you."

Kaoru nods, her eyes bulging in horror. She swallows the bile rising in her throat and tries to discern whether any of the copious quantity of blood on Enishi is his own.

Enishi insouciantly picks up his bowl and chopsticks from the counter. He tracks red footprints across the hardwood floor into the dining room. Numbly and without any lingering appetite, Kaoru follows him.

He sits at the head of the table, chewing his food with only a mildly displeased expression on his face. A little blood drips from his hair into his bowl; he shovels the contaminated rice into his mouth without even seeming to notice.

"Are you hurt?" Kaoru asks quietly, careful to keep the revulsion out of her voice. She sits in the seat on his left side, knowing even as she does so that the strategy is all but useless - Enishi's weak side is still many times more dangerous than her dominant side.

Enishi grunts without looking up at her. "Most of this blood is from Wu's men," he states matter-of-factly. Kaoru tries not to retch at the thought. "But I may have opened up an old wound on my back." The blood seeping through his jacket confirms his stated suspicion.

He pushes his half-finished meal to the middle of the table and stands up, walking out of the room without pushing his chair in. Red droplets from his clothes stain the seat cushion.

In spite of her disgust, a small part of Kaoru resents the fact that she will be responsible for mopping up all the bloody footprints that Enishi is leaving all over the kitchen and dining room. She follows the crimson trail upstairs and sees that it leads into the bathroom next to Enishi's room. The door is open. She starts to turn around to go back downstairs, hoping that he doesn't notice or care about her presence.

"Come in here," calls Enishi from the door. His voice echoes around in the tiled space. Kaoru gulps and does what he says.

Enishi has removed his sleeveless shirt and is trying to staunch the bleeding from the gash on his back with a towel, but the injuries from his fight with Kenshin prevent him from reaching it properly. He flails his arm and the towel back and forth, and fresh blood pours from the cut, dripping on the porcelain sink and spattering the framed mirror. More blood is smeared along the white tiles and against the claw footed bathtub. It would be funny if it weren't so gory. Enishi huffs and stops, then gazes at her expectantly.

"Um," Kaoru grunts, guessing at whatever insane idea must be running through Enishi's head. "Let me help you with that." She takes the towel from him, and he sits down on the lid of the toilet so that Kaoru can hold it up to his cut. Distantly, Kaoru wonders how Enishi can be so nonchalant about bleeding all over the modern marvels of this room. For her part, although she will be relieved when Kenshin rescues her from this island prison, she will be a little sorry to return to hand pumped water and woodfire-heated baths.

The cut stops actively bleeding. Kaoru drops the stained towel to the floor without regard for the mess. She grabs some cotton cloths off a shelf and wets them in the sink, then wipes the drying blood from Enishi's arms and hands. She removes his spectacles and polishes the lenses, then folds them and places them on the carved wooden vanity. Finally, she draws a bath. She catches Enishi observing her with an expression that seems almost curious.

"You can take it from here," she mutters and throws him a clean towel, then marches out and slams the door shut behind her. She lets out a heavy sigh. If she'd known that throwing her lot in with Enishi meant that she would have to treat the extremely dangerous man like a child, she might have chosen to take her chances with Wu and his henchmen. Or the sharks in the bay.

Later that day, she learns to her surprise that Enishi didn't kill any of Wu's men; he simply removed the arm of one. The other three also appear roughed up. While peeking out from behind the curtain of one of the windows on the second story, she sees them sulking together in the shadow of the supply shed down near the path to the shore, glaring daggers up toward the house. She is relieved that Enishi refrained from slaughtering yet another person, but she is not so naive as to think that Wu and his men will not find a way to retaliate if they have the opportunity.

As the shadows grow long and the sun sets, Enishi starts stomping around the house in agitation. He repeatedly stalks past Kaoru's self-claimed nook in the parlor, his evening robe flapping around his legs. Kaoru ignores him for a while; she is attempting to distract herself by looking at the linotype prints of tall modern buildings in a European book after having spent the afternoon mopping up the blood in the kitchen and bathroom. After his fifth pass of the room, she worries that he is descending into another bout of madness, but then she catches him glowering at her from the doorway. It takes all of her willpower to keep from shouting at him, "What is your problem?!"

Instead, she shuts the book and sets it down on a side table, then stands up and folds her arms across her chest and waits for Enishi to indicate what he wants. He glances at her once more, evidently appeased, and steps out of the room. Kaoru rolls her eyes and follows him upstairs once again.

He reaches the top step and turns around to make sure that she is still behind him. Curious yet exasperated, Kaoru raises her eyebrows slightly in an invitation to get him to explain. She does not succeed.

Enishi whips his head around as he walks across the landing and over to his room. He stands in front of the door, looking expectantly at Kaoru.

Kaoru's eyes narrow suspiciously, but she doesn't dare refuse him. With trepidation, she steps into the room.

Enishi sits down on his futon and pulls the covers back. Kaoru looks at him, and her fear must be written in her eyes, because he looks away from her and growls, low and quiet, "Just what you did last night. Nothing more."

Kaoru swears that she hears an undercurrent of shame flowing through his voice. She sits down at the edge of the bed, eyeing him suspiciously.

He does not look at her at first; instead, he kicks off his slippers and removes his spectacles. He flops backward into the cushions and actually pats the spot next to him.

Kaoru furrows her brows but scoots over, and the next thing she knows, his head is in her lap and his arm is slung around her waist again. When she fails to stroke his head, he glares up at her. She sighs and runs her fingers soothingly through his hair.

He closes his eyes and exhales as though the tight knots of tension inside of him are unraveling all at once. In spite of herself, Kaoru can't help but feel pity for Enishi, whose pain over losing his sister has twisted him into this vicious, troubled, yet vulnerable man. He is so alone that even this simple contact is somehow comforting to him.

Soon, he is breathing evenly, and Kaoru knows he has fallen asleep. She follows shortly thereafter.

When she wakes up the next morning, Enishi has again tucked her into bed, but today he has begun training outside - she knows because she hears thwacks that can only be caused by a sharp sword hitting trees. She rubs her eyes and stretches, wondering what this development means for her escape prospects.

The routine continues for a week. Enishi barely acknowledges her during the day, other than to make the occasional snide comment about her cooking; she talks to him very little, but finds herself staying nearby in case Wu tries to approach.

The transport ship arrives and leaves shortly thereafter, bringing with it word that Enishi's subordinate with the cannon attached to his arm is tearing up Tokyo. Kaoru listens to Wu and Enishi discussing the news in the study, hoping to hear mention of her friends, but Enishi catches her eavesdropping and slams the door in her face.

Kaoru wonders if the news will change Enishi's strange ritual with her, but the only difference that night is that he seems to cling to her more desperately. The shift is slight, but unsettling.

When she wakes up alone in his bed the next morning, there is a fabric package on the bedside table. It is a new blue kimono, tailored to her exact measurements. Kaoru gulps and wonders just what this portends.

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A/N: I wrote a version of this fic early in my fanfic writing attempts. I took it down a while back, and now that I'm a more experienced writer I decided to polish it up and post it again.

A/N 2: Enishi is weird and inappropriate and creepy here, but there won't be any assault in this fic, I promise. I guess this story is my attempt to see if I can break some of the "captive/captor" tropes to which E/K lends itself. This story is not intended to reflect healthy romantic interactions between Kaoru and Enishi, but there are some twisted semi-romance-type feelings in there, somewhere. I hope you enjoy!


	2. Chapter 2

Enishi awakens to the Kamiya girl drooling in his hair. She does not open her eyes when he crawls out of bed, although she smacks her lips and mutters something about breakfast.

The night before Enishi dreamt of Tomoe's warm, enveloping love. He had been a young child, and his sister had wiped happy tears from his cheeks. She had promised that she would protect him. It's the same dream he's had each night since Kamiya dragged him, unconscious, from the balcony to protect him from his own subordinates.

As Enishi washes his face in the bathroom sink, a shimmery Tomoe stares at him from the periphery of his vision, and he shivers. Tomoe never smiles, never speaks, but her expression shifts subtly to hint about what she wants. Apparently, she wants Kamiya nearby. Each night Tomoe has appeared before him, agitated and fearful, and she only relaxes when Enishi rests his head on Kamiya's shoulder. The girl's actions have ensured his survival to complete his _jinchuu_ , and Tomoe's beautiful, immortal face reflects a calmness than Enishi hasn't seen since his sister was alive. Enishi dresses quickly and stalks outside to train in a probably futile effort to leave behind thoughts of either woman.

As Enishi passes more days waiting for news of Battousai's agonizing demise, and more nights with Kamiya, his nights snarl into knots of pleasure and pain. The worst comes one night, when his child self basks in Tomoe's affectionate gaze; she folds him into her arms with familial love. Slowly, his sister's face twists away and Kamiya appears beside his own adult form, lying next to him on the island beach. She leans toward him and clasps his hand, his nostrils fill with the scent of her clean skin. But when he leans over to whisper words of gratitude, the dream curdles into a nightmare; Battousai's sword slashes across her torso and red rain splatters Enishi's face and clothes, and Kamiya morphs back into Tomoe and blood from both women streaks across the skies and sand and snowbanks.

Enishi jerks upright, his skin icy and boiling together at once, and when he opens his eyes in his moonlit room on the island, he can still smell the blood. He feels the sticky hot liquid streaming down his face and arms, wetting his shirt. He rips the garment over his head and throws it across the room. Someone is screaming.

Kamiya, sitting up in bed next to him, is grabbing at his shoulders; her lips are moving but Enishi cannot understand her words. She seems unhurt, but Enishi has long since learned not to trust his own eyes, no matter whether he is awake or asleep. He grasps the collar of Kamiya's robe and pulls it down to her shoulders to make sure no slash across her torso remains. The tan skin on her neck and clavicles are smooth and unbroken. He swivels her around to check her back for the mortal wound and yanks the garment down nearly to her waist, but her shoulders and back are untouched.

Enishi exhales in relief and the room is still and quiet again. The screams must have been his own. He had imagined the blood on his face and sheets and clothes, and the girl is alive and uninjured. He gazes down at his hands, turning them over to confirm once more that they are clean and dry.

Tomoe lurks in a dark corner. Her brows are furrowed in pained disappointment; she reminds Enishi that he must have scared Kamiya. Enishi offers a wordless apology to the image of his revered sister and looks back to his captive.

Kamiya glares at him over her shoulder, her eyes wide with shock and fear. She has pulled her robe back over her body. She misunderstands why he tore at her clothes moments earlier.

He nods at the girl in an effort to provide reassurance, exposing a thin crescent of teeth in the moonlight. "You are safe," he says. He pulls the linen sheet off the bed and drapes it over her shoulders. Against the darkness, Tomoe's luminous, worried expression calms and she recedes to the edges of Enishi's mind.

Kamiya, clearly still shaken, clutches at the sheet. But she takes Enishi's hand cautiously and laces her fingers with his.

Enishi feels the warmth of her palm as an echo of the sensation of her hand in his within his dream. His eyes flick up to her parted lips. His face feels hot as he grasps her hand in return.

"You saw Tomoe die in your dream, didn't you?" She breathes fast and her eyes are open wide as she says the words.

Enishi's throat feels dry and hoarse. He has killed men who spoke his sister's name in his presence, but Kamiya's sorrowful tone halts that impulse. He swallows and jerks his head affirmatively.

Kamiya looks at him with an expression that Enishi does not understand, but then he has always had difficulty reading others' faces. Lightly, she places an arm around his bare shoulder and pats his bicep. The hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

"Come lay down again. Let's just sleep," she beckons.

Tomoe agrees with Kamiya. Enishi complies with the suggestion and lays his head on Kamiya's shoulder and drapes his arm across her waist. The girl drapes the sheet over both of their bodies.

Enishi stares at the ceiling for some time, but when he finally falls asleep again, the dreams with Kamiya continue. She limps through the streets of Kyoto wearing a bloody purple kimono, with the scent of plum blossoms trailing her as she arrives at Enishi's childhood home. She slides open a door that opens into his luxurious bedroom in Shanghai. He follows her inside and she pushes him onto his bed, smelling like the ocean and smirking with malice in her eyes. She pins him against the mattress with a strength he knows she cannot possibly possess and holds an ether-soaked handkerchief up to his face. His vision blurs as he chokes on the fumes, and when he can see straight again, she is embracing him; their clothes have been cast away and she breathes his name into his ear -

"Enishi?" Kamiya's voice brings him up from the depths of the dream. Pink rays from the sunrise illuminate the room. Kamiya's face is just inches away from his own. Her eyes are lit with concern. "You were groaning. I thought maybe you were having nightmares again."

"I'm fine," he mutters and sits up with his back to her so that she doesn't see the physical effects of the dream about her. He runs a palm over the top of his head and ruffles his hair. "Go back to sleep. You never get up this early anyway."

She purses her lips as if about to protest, then flops back into the pillows and tosses some of her long hair over her eyes. "Go destroy some trees on the other side of the house today. It is too loud when you do it right under this window."

The corners of Enishi's mouth turn downward, but the annoying comment doesn't stop him from noticing the way Kamiya's bathrobe is parted a little lower than usual. He shakes his head to rid himself once and for all of the images of her, rises from the bed and takes a shirt out of the armoire, then pulls it over his head. He glances at the kimono he gave her a few days earlier, which she has hung up beside his own clothes. He had been saving it to give her when Battousai was dead and he returned her to Tokyo, but Tomoe had persuaded him otherwise.

Enishi looks back to the now softly snoring form of Kamiya. Without thinking about it, he pulls the covers up to her chin. From her place in the corner, Tomoe inclines her head in approval.


	3. Chapter 3

_Welcome to another day of hell,_ Kaoru thinks to herself as she shrugs on her blue kimono, feeling like her time spent here is becoming as endless as the tropical skies above.

She begins the chores she's assigned herself to avoid sinking into desperate loneliness. First she straightens the covers over the bed, then shuts the doors to the armoire. She notices Enishi's sweaty, sandy clothes in a basket by the dresser, and with an irritated grunt, she bundles them with her grungy bathrobe. This kind of stuff is annoying, but acting out Tomoe's caregiving role, however tedious or terrifying it may be, is a small price to pay for her continued safety.

Kaoru heads downstairs with the dirty garments under her arm. She walks through the kitchen and out the back door to the storage shed where she knows there is a tin washing basin and thick yellow cakes of soap.

The shack's little door creaks open and her eyes to adjust to the dusty darkness. But before she has the chance to locate the laundry supplies, she hears a familiar sinister cackle from behind her. She whips around, her fist clenched, ready to throw a Sanosuke-style punch if necessary, wishing for the thousandth time for her trusty _bokken_ to defend herself.

"This is a dangerous game you are playing, girl," Wu's voice hisses from the shadows. He slinks out of the jungle foliage and stands at the edge of the clearing, blocking Kaoru's escape to the house. His short dark hair sticks to his forehead, and his face is slick with sweat, but he still wears his heavy black jacket and pants. His remaining three hulking bodyguards shuffle out of the forest behind him.

Kaoru listens for the sound of Enishi's tree-thwacking to determine if he is within hailing distance, but she knows that Wu would not dare to approach her if he thought that his boss could interfere.

Ignoring Wu, she addresses the bodyguards. "Where's your friend? The one missing a hand?" she taunts, hoping she sounds braver than she feels. The identical mercenaries shift their stances and grit their teeth, but they say nothing.

Wu snickers as if Kaoru has told a joke, but his eyes overflow with hate. "My mens' brother Suzaku left on the transport ship this morning. He's of no use to me now." Wu spits in the dirt and grimaces. "The boss has never before left someone alive when he wanted to make a point. Yukishiro must be even weaker than I suspected."

Kaoru presses her lips together, doing what she can to maintain a neutral expression. She must keep Wu convinced that she and Enishi are lovers, make him believe that Enishi cares about her. "Enishi is stronger than ever. I told him to treat you mercifully," she bluffs.

Wu guffaws. "Oho, so _you_ are giving the boss orders now? He has grown quite a taste for skinny, dirty peasant girls." The bodyguards chortle cruelly behind him.

Kaoru's face reddens, but she stays silent. The longer these guys mock her, the more likely it is that Enishi will come looking for her.

Wu takes another step forward, and Kaoru freezes in place, willing herself not to retreat. His smirk vanishes and he speaks in a low, cold voice. "My sources in Tokyo reported that you were a lovesick brat pining away for the affection of a worn out swordsman, some has-been from the Boshin Wars. I didn't question when the boss brought you here instead of just killing you. You seemed like nothing more than a nuisance, certainly no threat to my plans. Yet you have stayed here for weeks, sharing the boss's bed every night, currying favor with him - "

"Is there a point to your rambling, or can I get started on the laundry?" Kaoru cuts him off. Sweat drips from between her shoulder blades; it soaks the fabric of her kimono. If the discussion goes on much longer, she might give away that she and Enishi really are just sleeping in the same bed, that Wu has no reason to stay away from her.

Wu narrows his eyes and pops his knuckles. "Listen closely, you power hungry little slut. Yukishiro agreed long ago to cede control of the gang's operations to me once his revenge scheme is complete. He's going to walk away with nothing." An insect buzzes in the trees above. Wu continues, "If you're trying to get the boss to throw me out of the organization I've worked so hard to build under him, you'll be sorry. I will go to any length to become the leader. Soon, not even Yukishiro will be able to stop me."

Kaoru wants to laugh. Wu's paranoia finally makes sense; he thinks that she will upend whatever deal he made with Enishi. All she just wants to get off this island prison alive; she doesn't give a damn about Shanghai gang succession. She shifts the bundle clothes over to her other hip, trying to look casual and carefree. "Oh yeah? What happens in a few days?"

"You'll see soon enough." Wu slides a long fingernail down a shiny incisor. "Clearly you think strategically. So I am warning you now: stay out of my way when I take over. Encourage your lover Yukishiro to do the same. If you do not, I will destroy both of you, not to mention your Tokyo friends when they arrive here."

Kaoru's eyes widen. "Kenshin is coming?!" she gasps before she can stop herself.

Wu smiles broadly at her lapse. "Heh, perhaps your heart still yearns for the redhead, even as you fawn all over the boss?"

Kaoru glares, but before she can reply, one of the bodyguards whistles in warning. The three underlings melt into the jungle.

Wu lingers, his teeth exposed in a frightening grin. "Remember my words when the time comes, girl." He disappears into the forest behind his men.

Kaoru's shoulders sag as she exhales in exhaustion. She has never been good at deceiving others, and this high-stakes effort is taking its toll. She abandons the idea of laundry for the day and tosses the clothes on the floor, turns on her heel and hurries back into the house.

She finds Enishi in the kitchen, cooling off from his morning practice. His sleeveless blue shirt is stained with sweat at the neckline and under the arms; his orange pants are wrinkled and sandy. He leans against the counter, sipping cold tea left from the previous night and crunching on hard European-style crackers straight from a metal tin. He glances at Kaoru, then gazes back into the depths of his porcelain cup.

Kaoru blows her hair out of her eyes. "Wu approached me," she says in as calm of a tone as she can muster, her mind spinning in nauseating swirls of fear and hope. She keeps the news of Kenshin to herself.

Enishi grunts and sets his cup down. His arm muscles appear to have been chiseled out of wet marble.

Kaoru blushes and turns away. Although she has been sleeping next to Enishi night after night, somehow it's less awkward when his frame is cloaked in darkness and not as exposed as at this moment. She shakes her head and looks at a cabinet behind Enishi's head. "Your subordinate thinks we are - working together to keep him from taking control of your organization."

Enishi blinks and his eyebrow twitches. "Wu thinks everyone is trying to undercut him." He takes another sip of tea. "You shouldn't worry. He's too afraid of me to hurt you."

Kaoru furrows her brows. "I'm not just worried about myself. He said he'd destroy you too if I don't stay out of his way."

Instead of growing concerned, Enishi actually laughs. "That's impossible. Now that I've recovered from my injuries, Heishin's schemes are worthless against my strength." He folds his arms over his massive chest and his smile disappears. "Don't worry about him. Just stay out of his way, like he told you."

Kaoru's ears grow hot as her anger swells and overflows. "I wouldn't be in Wu's _way_ if you hadn't brought me here in the first place!" she shouts before she can stop herself.

Enishi scowls at her, slams down his cup on the counter, and stalks outside, leaving the back door flapping open. A moment later, she hears more tree thwacking.

Kaoru realizes that she's holding her hands over her mouth, but that cannot take the words back. In spite of her fear, anger still prickles along her skin. _So much for imitating Tomoe's grace,_ she thinks, wondering whether her safety is once again at risk.

* * *

Kamiya says annoying things to Enishi all the time, but he did not expect her to scream the way she did earlier in the day. The sun set hours ago, and she still has not come to his room to lay down with him. But he can hear her banging around in the kitchen downstairs, letting the whole island know just how upset she is with him.

Enishi flops back against the pillows on his bed and stretches his arms out so that he can touch both edges of the mattress at the same time. He stares at the ceiling beams until his eyes water. Every time he blinks, Tomoe glares at him reproachfully. She wants Kamiya back.

Enishi rubs his face with both palms. Ever since the girl began sharing his bed, his dreams have been even stranger than usual. Sometimes he pursues Kamiya through the jungle as she laughs at him, floating just out of reach; other times, she wraps him in Gein's puppetry wires and runs her hands over his body. It's all very unsettling to him, although Tomoe doesn't seem to mind as long as Kamiya keeps him company at night.

Just as he is rising from the bed to just go fetch the girl, a soft knock on the door wrests him from his thoughts.

"Enishi?" Kamiya calls from the other side of the door. Enishi grinds his teeth, feeling irritated at being made to wait. When he does not immediately answer her, she comes in, dressed for bed and carrying an oil lamp.

"What?" he grunts, glaring at her slippered feet in the soft light.

She steps forward and sets the lamp on the bedside table, then sits beside him.

He refuses to look at her face, but he can hear her mouth opening and closing, as if she wants to say something but can't force out the words.

Enishi presses his palms against the mattress and shoves himself back against the pillows. He gestures for Kamiya to join him. "Come on, let's sleep."

Her brows are furrowed as she protests, "I still want to talk about Wu."

"No. I told you that he's no threat to you."

She gives him a strange look and he can tell that she is thinking many different things, but finally, she crawls up the bed toward him.

As she flops beside him, Enishi reaches out on impulse and tucks her under his arm. She looks up at him, confusion written on her face, and he gazes at her, daring her to make a remark. She rolls her eyes and lays her head on his shoulder, then closes her eyes.

Enishi breathes out slowly through his nostrils. He curves his hand at Kamiya's waist and hooks his thumb along the edge of her bathrobe sash. She shifts and places her hand on his chest, over his thumping heart.

He remembers another dream snippet from the previous night. In it, Kamiya touches his face lovingly, inviting him to call her by her given name. He breathes Kamiya's - no, Kaoru's - name against her neck; he parts her bathrobe and slips his hand between her thighs. Her legs part with a gentle touch, and she bites her lip and squeezes her eyes shut -

Tomoe blushes against Enishi's closed eyelids. Enishi clenches the sash at Kaoru's waist, willing his hand to stay in its place.

Kaoru shifts again and takes a deep breath. "Are you still awake?" she whispers. Her fingers curl in the fabric of Enishi's shirt.

He turns his head downward to see her looking up at him. His eyes flick down to her mouth. He could lean forward and touch his lips to hers, find out what it feels like to kiss a woman. "Yes, K-" he stops himself from saying her given name, though the syllables keep banging around in his brain. "What are you thinking about?"

She licks her lips nervously. "Seriously. How are we going to deal with Wu?"

Enishi's nerves crackle under his skin. Of course Kaoru, like everyone else who has ever teamed up with him, just wants a mutually beneficial arrangement. But he still enjoys the way she assumes they are allied together, at least for now. He smoothes the fabric of her robe under his palm. "Heishin is smart, so it shouldn't be hard for him to understand that I will crush him like a gnat if he tries to hurt you."

Kaoru's hand tenses on his chest. She clearly wants to say more; Enishi imagines that he can feel the pulse at her wrist quicken. He wonders how it would feel to press his ear against her bare skin and feel every beat of her heart.

"What about your own safety?" she asks, obviously unaware of his thoughts. Her concern for his well being seems earnest.

But the question unnerves Enishi. He blinks to check in with Tomoe; she does not know what to make of Kaoru's worries either. He finds himself trying to assuage her fears. "Like I said, neither Heishin nor his men can touch me. Not out here on the island."

Kaoru drums her fingers against his chest. She is probably trying to think of some impossible way to stay safe without hurting Heishin or his men. Her code of protecting life, even as she wields a sword, is perplexing and exasperating. Enishi wants to seize her wrist to halt her nervous movements, to make her stop obsessing over circumstances that will not improve. He imagines demanding that she stop thinking of Heishin, of Battousai, of anyone or anything but him on this warm night, in this stuffy room.

Tomoe narrows her eyes in disapproval. Her unsmiling visage reminds Enishi that he, of all people, cannot hope for Kaoru to turn her mind away from her purpose. Kaoru has become an unexpectedly pleasant distraction, but she can never eclipse his own credo of revenge. He swallows and pushes the fantasy from his mind.

Instead, he tucks her body even closer to him and closes his eyes again; he nuzzles into her hair. He whispers harshly, "Stop asking stupid questions. I'm trying to sleep."

Neither Kaoru nor Enishi speaks, but they both stay awake late into the night.


	4. Chapter 4

Kaoru opens her eyes to the first rays of sun peeking through the shutter slats, then closes them again. She listens to the waves crashing against the beach far down below the bluff.

The sound of the surf should calm her, but her thoughts buzz as loudly as the insects in the jungle foliage. She had dreamt of Enishi's henchman Wu, his face gnarled and grotesque as he grew into a giant, rising up above her and Enishi until his frame blotted out the skies. He had struck off Enishi's arms with a great sword and had crushed her beneath his heel like a bug.

She tries to rub her eyes, only to realize that her arm is trapped beneath Enishi's muscular shoulder, and her thigh is flopped familiarly over his leg. Sometime during the night, she must have rolled off his chest, but this new position is frankly just more of the unasked-for intimacy she now shares with him. _You shouldn't have pulled me into that embrace,_ she imagines scolding him, though she knows she wouldn't actually dare. Her face burns.

Kaoru slowly disentangles her limbs from Enishi's, wishing he would remain asleep but having lived with swordsmen long enough to know he will awaken no matter how stealthily she moves.

Enishi rolls onto his side and rests his head against his elbow as he opens his eyes. Obviously he's been awake for longer than he has let on.

"Oh. Hello," Kaoru mumbles, turning away from him as she remembers the thump of his heart, the heat of his skin.

As usual, Enishi does not return her pleasantries beyond blinking and popping his jaw a few times.

Kaoru studies Enishi's delicate facial features for signs of anger or impatience. She looks across his furrowed brows and guarded eyes, down the sharp bridge of his nose, along his wide lips. She wonders if he resembles his dead sister, imagines his heart breaking every time he sees his reflection. If Tomoe shared the looks her brother even a little, she would have been extraordinarily beautiful.

But thinking of Tomoe brings memories of Kenshin that threaten to overwhelm Kaoru. She chokes out some words to shove down the pain. "You - um - sleep alright?"

Enishi coughs as he scratches the side of his head where the hair is flat from the pillow. "Yes," he replies. His voice comes out hoarse.

"Um. Good. That's good," she says, knowing the words sound stupid. Her tongue and her thoughts feel as thick and slow as when she drinks too much sake.

Enishi is staring at her in a way that isn't entirely friendly, but his expression isn't hostile either. Perhaps this is the opening she couldn't find last night, the route past her captor's pride or arrogance or whatever it is that is keeping him from taking Wu's threats seriously. But she'll have to approach the subject carefully - ino more plowing straight through like an ox,/i she reminds herself.

Kaoru reaches across the bedspread and grasps Enishi's wrist. His eyes widen, and he swallows as he glances between her hand and her face. She exhales. _Like trapping a wild animal_ , she thinks. "Yesterday - last night - when we were talking about what's going on here on the island, and everything seemed a little different than before . . ."

* * *

Heat creeps up Enishi's neck as Kaoru babbles, clearly distracted with whatever she's trying to spit out. He isn't really listening because she's so close that he can feel her breath on his lips.

Is Kaoru thinking about Battousai, even as she meanders through some kind of story about the transport ship? Does she wonder why the manslayer has not come to take her back to Tokyo? Enishi's stomach turns at the notion. Battousai has deceived kind, innocent women twice; the first time destroyed Tomoe's happiness and stole her life. At least _jinchuu_ will spare Kaoru from the misery that Battousai would inevitably bring her.

" - So, anyway, that's what I think we should do about Wu."

Kaoru's words hit him like a bucket of seawater in his face. "-What was that about Heishin?" he growls. At the edge of his vision, Tomoe's somber face glows.

"Weren't you - weren't you listening?" Kaoru asks, an edge to her voice that she fails to blunt even as she strokes his shoulder. She scoots closer to him and her knee presses against his hip. "I don't want to take chances with whatever advantage Wu thinks he has. We should make a run for the transport ship when it arrives, and shove off before Wu or those brothers can get on -"

"I told you," Enishi grinds out through clenched teeth, "I'll take care of him." The cool room suddenly feels dank, suffocating. Kaoru's hands burn like hot pokers. Tomoe, suddenly agitated and inconsolable, flashes into the forefront of his mind.

Enishi jolts upright and swings his feet over the edge of the bed. "Do not mention Heishin again, and don't think I'm so stupid that I can't see through your pathetic escape attempt." He snatches his glasses off the nightstand and shoves them onto his face.

Kaoru doesn't release him. Her eyes are narrowed in fury. "I protected you before, when you couldn't fight back," she hisses, and her nails dig into his flesh. "I'm not trying to escape now. I'm trying to _help us._ Wu said he would kill you if you don't get out of his way -"

"Stop," Enishi commands. It's too much - her heat, her scent, her anger. It's long past time for him to train, and long past time for him to allow these thoughts of Kaoru to divert him from his revenge. He sloughs her off of him and rises, then stalks to the armoire to grab some clothes.

"Look, you're not exactly my friend, but I don't want you to die!" Kaoru exclaims, evidently disregarding Enishi's brush off. She slips off the bed and stands in front of him, doing her best to stare him down in spite of her short stature.

Enishi wants to grab her by the collar of her bathrobe and shake some sense into her, but Tomoe's withdrawn expression stays his hand. He clenches his jaw and glares at the crown of Kaoru's head.

She takes a step closer to him. "Of course I want to get back to Tokyo. But I don't want anyone - I don't want iyou/i to get hurt." She looks up at him again, and in her face he swears that there is a glow that he had only seen in his dreams.

"Someone will get hurt - more than hurt - but it won't be me." Not that his life beyond _jinchuu_ has mattered since Tomoe perished. But with this new concern from Kaoru -

"I don't know how to get you to understand," Kaoru interrupts his thoughts with a whisper. She gazes down at her bare feet. "I thought that if I kept helping you just like Tomoe would have -"

Enishi freezes. "What?" The heat leaves his face; his throat constricts. _Just like Tomoe?_ He paces away from Kaoru in a frenzy, ready to flee, then turns on his heel and rushes back to her. He looms over her as he shrieks, with spittle flying, "You could _never_ be like my sister!"

"Excuse me?!" Kaoru returns, obviously too infuriated to fear him any longer. "I've cooked and cleaned and helped you sleep when you had nightmares for weeks! The more _sisterly_ stuff I did for you, the better you treated me - until now, anyway!"

Enishi stares at her, his tongue useless in his mouth. Apparently his silence incenses her further. She pokes him in the chest with a slim forefinger and screams, "If you don't want me to be your sister, then stop pretending that I'm Tomoe!"

* * *

Kaoru really, really, really shouldn't have said that. At this moment she has never witnessed Enishi's eyes so wild, his breath so ragged, his mouth so twisted into such a horrorstruck snarl.

"Enishi," she whispers. Against every instinct she possesses, all of which are telling her to jump out the window and hide in the jungle, she steps forward, closing the small space between them. He flinches, but he does not throw her across the room, which she was fully expecting. She takes this as a sign that she may continue. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said -"

Suddenly Kaoru's face is shoved against Enishi's chest. Kaoru's words die on her tongue.

Enishi takes her head in his hands and turns her face so that she must look at him. All she can see are his blazing turquoise eyes over the top of his glasses. She can feel his fast breaths on her skin, and in her stunned panic she imagines that he is either going to snap her neck or kiss her, or both.

"Understand this, Kaoru," Enishi hisses through his teeth, his nostrils flared and his eyes wide. He has never used her given name before, and she is so startled that she almost misses what he says next. "How I see Tomoe is _nothing_ like how see you."

His voice is harsh and his eyes bore into hers, but his cheeks are flushed. At first Kaoru thinks he is apoplectic with rage, but it slowly dawns on her that his expression is one of painful humiliation.

Oh. _Oh._

The gift of the kimono - the comforting nightly rituals - the use of her name - all of Enishi's actions reshuffle into a new narrative in Kaoru's mind. Evidently, what had started as a longing for family twisted into an impossible desire for romance. Kaoru blanches as she comprehends the gravity of her miscalculation.

Enishi closes his eyes, his whole face now blotted red with shame. He swallows and wets his lips with his tongue, then glances down at her again. Kaoru can only stare back up at him numbly.

He releases her face and slowly slides his fingertips along her shoulders, down her arms. When he reaches her hands, he laces his fingers with hers.

The familiar contact helps her unstick her tongue from the roof of her mouth. "Enishi," she rasps, her voice breaking. She could shift her efforts to manipulate him, now that she knows his feelings. She could tell him she loves him too, could lift her face and offer up her first kiss as a sacrifice to an escape plan, beg him to leave his revenge behind and take her to Shanghai. She could jump off the ship when it docks for supplies in Yokohama and swim to shore and stow away on a train to Tokyo -

She can't do that. She doesn't love Enishi, but she can't deceive him any longer. She clears her throat and stammers, "I understand now. But I didn't - we're not -"

"I know." Enishi squeezes her hands briefly and then drops them. He takes a few steps backward and adjusts his glasses on the bridge of his nose. He stares down at the rug, his eyes unfocused, his shoulders slumped.

Kaoru steps forward and reaches up to stroke Enishi's face, but he cringes before she can touch him. "I'm sorry," she whispers.

"You've done nothing wrong," he mumbles into his chest.

As Kaoru opens her mouth to respond, a deafening boom echoes across the jungle. Kaoru and Enishi both startle in surprise. Enishi gives Kaoru one final sorrowful look, then rushes past her to the shuttered windows overlooking the bay. Kaoru follows.

Enishi pulls open the wooden shutters and peers through the glass, then yanks open the window to get a better view of the seas. Kaoru shields her eyes from the glare of the sunrise with her hand. A ship's dark silhouette breaks the monotony of the horizon.

Kaoru gasps, her mind racing. "Isn't that -"

"A Japanese military vessel," Enishi finishes. He is still staring out across the water. The vulnerable, open expression he had on his face just moments earlier has been replaced with a strange smile that is somewhere between euphoria and bloodlust. "Battousai has come to die."


	5. Chapter 5

"Enishi, slow down!" Kaoru calls to her captor far ahead of her, several trail switchbacks down the bluff. She can't see all of him through the thick foliage, just a flash of orange pants here and a glint of unsheathed sword there.

The jungle is weirdly quiet, as if the cannon fire has scared the birds and insects and rodents into silence. Kaoru hears only Enishi's shuffling down the path below, and her own heavy footfalls and laborious breaths as she struggles to catch up.

As Kaoru tries to skip over a short rockslide, her sandal lodges itself beneath a tree root and she stumbles. She avoids toppling over by grabbing onto a low branch just in time.

"Hey, I'm stuck, wait up for a minute!" she screams in Enishi's direction. Her anxiety over the morning's argument tumbles into her voice as she cries out.

Enishi hikes back up the trail, muttering loudly about how useless she is, and he narrows his eyes when he takes stock of her predicament. With an unnecessarily dramatic sigh, he leans his tall sword up against the tree trunk and kneels down to help her dislodge her foot and shoe, even though she has not asked for his help. "How you defeated Shishio's men in combat I'll never know," he grumbles as he grabs ahold of her ankle and starts to pull the foot out of the tangle of roots.

Kaoru looks away and tries to concentrate on holding herself up on the tree branch so that she can avoid thinking about Enishi's hands on her foot, about how his face is close to her exposed knee, by the fold where her kimono opens, about how he inadvertently confessed his love to her a mere hour earlier and how he is now clearly trying to forget that fact as much as she is -

A series of explosions followed by whooshing splashes comes from the direction of the bay. "Do you know what that is? " she asks fearfully over the noise.

With a final yank Enishi untangles Kaoru's ankle. He places the shoe onto her foot with surprising gentleness. As he stands, he meets her eyes for the first time since the ship arrived. "Naval mines. The group must have found a way to disarm them. If the ship had hit one, we'd be hearing much worse." He lifts his iwatou/i and slashes it through the air. "It's just as well. I look forward to destroying Battousai with my own sword," he adds grimly and turns on his heel.

Kaoru wonders whether she made the right choice to tell Enishi the truth of her own feelings, even as she contemplates the arrival of her friends and the inevitable coming battle. "Enishi." She cringes at the sound of desperation in her voice, but she grabs his shoulder anyway.

He whips around as though she has scalded him. His face flashes between rage and impatience as he shrugs her hand away.

Kaoru shivers in spite of the heat. "Please don't do this."

"No one can stop me from avenging my sister." Enishi pulls his glasses off his face and wipes the sweat from his brow with his upper arm. "Not even you."

"Tomoe wouldn't want -"

"Do not speak her name!" He screams as another mine goes off. Enishi glares at Kaoru with that familiar wildness in his eyes. "You know nothing of what she wants," he hisses, speaking as if Tomoe is still around, as if she could jump out of the bushes at any moment. Again he turns from Kaoru and marches down the path with renewed vigor in his step.

Kaoru hurries after him. She listens as Enishi addresses his sister in a soft, reverent tone. "Tomoe, sweet sister, our revenge is nearly complete. Please lend me your strength to finish off your murderer."

Kaoru stops in her tracks, horrified. She has heard Enishi call out for Tomoe from his sleep, has listened to him mutter his sister's name under his breath as he runs through his sword fighting exercises, but she has never heard him talk to Tomoe directly before now. Her skin crawls. Has Enishi's reality truly become so warped?

She sinks to her knees, and the damp sandy soil stains the skirt of her kimono. Her eyes overflow with hot tears. The form of Enishi's back blurs with the shadows of the trees.

An indistinct shout comes from the beach and Kaoru hears the clang of steel weapons colliding. Her friends must have landed; they could only be engaging Wu's men. A meaty thump makes the ground vibrate; a flock of parrots shoots up from the canopy.

Kaoru is nearly out of time. She wipes her face with her sleeve and stands up unsteadily. Enishi is about to reach the final tunnel of vines that leads to the shore, but she must try once more to stop him.

"Tomoe-sama!" Kaoru screams into the trees. A bird startles and caws in response.

Enishi freezes, then slowly turns his head toward Kaoru even as his eyes are fixed to a spot on the ground.

She can tell he is waiting, listening. "Please protect your husband Kenshin from harm."

A girl's shrill cheer pierces the foliage as another thump ripples along the ground. Enishi grips his sword tightly, his knuckles white against the hilt, and he stands as still as stone.

 _Now's your chance. Don't mess it up,_ Kaoru thinks. "And Tomoe-sama - please heal Enishi. He needs your smile."

Enishi stops breathing, swallows. He glowers at Kaoru with bloodshot eyes.

Kaoru steps toward him. Perhaps all is not lost.

A third thump rolls across the soil, and the unmistakable rasp of Sanosuke's voice saws through the trees. "Hey Enishi, you white haired bastard, we're done playing with your pathetic thugs. Bring out our Kaoru and come face Kenshin."

 _No, it's happening too fast, I need just a little more time,_ Kaoru thinks, but she knows it is too late when she sees Enishi's rapturous grin.

"With pleasure," he whispers, and steps out onto the sand.

* * *

Enishi steps out into the open, ready for the _jinchuu_ that he has been planning since Tomoe died. The first thing he sees are Heishin's three remaining bodyguards slumped in an unconscious pile near the water's edge, with their boss nowhere in sight. Enishi cackles at the sight, thinking of Kaoru's pointless worries about these weaklings.

Battousai stands with his back to the ocean, his violet eyes ringed with dark circles, his pitiful, hypocritical reverse-blade sword hanging at his side. He lobs angry words across the sand.

Enishi's ears ring with righteous excitement to dole out long overdue justice, and he hardly hears what his enemy says. Tomoe floats against the back of his skull, her face pale and withdrawn. Like the thousand dreams that preceded this moment, he takes his stance and attacks Battousai with a frenzy of blows.

The fight blurs across Enishi's consciousness in streaks of hot light and blue sky and searing pain. The blood in his mouth - his and Battousai's - energizes him, nauseates him; anguish and ecstasy spin together as his sword bites into his opponent's flesh. Enishi is so close to fulfilling his final purpose, but Battousai refuses to die - refuses to admit that his death will bring Tomoe the peace she deserves.

On the verge of defeat, Battousai uses a cheap battle trick to dull Enishi's sensitive nerves, but the coward cannot understand Enishi's strength. The world tilts and vertigo overwhelms Enishi, but still he crawls toward Battousai laying in the sand. One last strike will send the demon to hell.

"No!" Kaoru screams as Enishi raises his sword, but she isn't addressing him. He glances in her direction and sees that she isn't even watching the fight - she is looking toward a dark-clad figure in the bushes.

It is Heishin, brandishing a pistol and shooting indiscriminately, and he manages to hit Battousai in the arm. Kaoru - no, Tomoe - they are the same person at that moment - runs toward Heishin in a futile effort to stop the fatal attack. The hot sand and cold snow spiral together and the woman who means the most to Enishi rushes forward to give up her life, but he cannot see her die again.

Enishi doesn't recall sprinting to the gun-wielding Heishin, or punching him so hard that his body flies into the air and crumples against a tree. But he must have done so, because he sees Heishin's broken body there, and his hand throbs with familiar pain, and then his sister's and Kaoru's arms embrace him at the same time and he sobs into her kimono, and he knows that Kaoru's pleas to spare Battousai's life were also the pleas of his beloved Tomoe. He wails into Kaoru's lap for the woman he has lost and new grief envelopes him at the same time that Tomoe's face finally lights up with love, and with the hint of a smile.


	6. Chapter 6

The rented room in the Aoiya is surprisingly bright for the middle of the night, with light from the outdoor gas lamp diffused across the paper window shade. Misao gave them in the finest room in the house, but the night is cold and Kaoru shivers in the hotel's thin sleeping robe. She wishes that she had brought her own from Tokyo, or at least that she had asked Misao if she could borrow something warmer. She curls onto her side, shrugging the comforter up to her ears.

"Kenshin," she whispers across the futon, observing her lover's closed eyes and calm face.

He opens his eyes and turns toward her, a content smile playing at his lips. No matter how quietly Kaoru says his name, no matter what time of night, no matter how deeply asleep he appears, he always turns to her with the same expression, as if he has been dreaming of meeting all her needs and desires.

Which he has already done, of course, ever since he began sharing her bed after recovering from the numerous injuries he suffered on the island. Kaoru snuggles close, breathes in the scent of his hair on the pillow and places a hand on his shoulder. Even after these past several months of living as husband and wife, Kaoru still enjoys touching Kenshin to confirm that her once-fantasized paradise has become her reality.

"What is it, Kaoru?" he asks, his eyes soft as he slips his arm behind her shoulder. Kaoru nuzzles up under his chin and wraps her arm around his chest. She inhales against his neck and smells the soap from the big bath downstairs. "Love?" he murmurs, concern coloring his voice. He studies her face.

Kaoru's eyes flick to her traveling pack in the corner of the room, where the parchment sheet is folded and tucked away. She had almost left it there on Tomoe's grave marker, but Kenshin had insisted that she take it.

She looks back to Kenshin, hoping he didn't notice.

He glances at the travel pack as well. "You're thinking about his note?"

Kaoru nods and looks past Kenshin's ear at the lit-up window shade. In her mind she sees the note rolled up and tethered to the flower bucket handle, and then later, folded and slipped between her extra clothes and hair ribbons. The paper is clean, thick, expensive; the writing is strong and made with sure strokes of a brush. The note is unsigned but the sentiment makes it clear who wrote it.

She tries to imagine Enishi sitting tall and straight at a hardwood desk like the one in the library back on the island, his handsome face clear and resolute, his right arm healed as he dips the fine calligraphy brush into a glass inkpot, his hand steady as he paints her name across the top of the note.

But that image is faint; it is quickly replaced by the memory of Enishi's despondent face, dried blood crackling across his bruised eye socket and cheek, his shoulders slumped and his handcuffs jangling around his wrists. It was the last time that Kaoru had seen Enishi, when she had run up to him pressed Tomoe's diary into his hands. He had looked down at her then, his eyes glassy, but he had taken the book. Kaoru had touched his hand, and had said his name, but he had bitten his lip and looked away. Then the police officer had prodded him onto the skiff that would take him to the larger ship. Shortly afterward he had escaped police custody, and Saitou had declined to send anyone after him.

She and Kenshin had returned to Tokyo. Kaoru had told her friends most of what had happened on the island, although she had left out the part about Enishi confessing his love to her.

Eventually Misao and Aoshi had returned to Kyoto, and the others had drifted away to seek their own destinies, and Yahiko had moved out to Sano's old place, and then one night she and Kenshin were sitting quietly together sharing some tea, and when Kaoru asked if Kenshin would like more, Kenshin had replied that yes, he would like more, but instead of taking the teapot from Kaoru's hand, he had leaned forward and brushed his fingers against her cheek and pressed his lips against hers.

And later that night, for the second time in her life, Kaoru had shared a bed with a man, but this time there was nothing chaste about it.

Afterwards, Kenshin had held her tight in his arms and buried his nose in her hair and asked her in a tremulous voice if she felt alright.

"Of course, how could I not?" she had replied, and she had smiled at him. He had smiled back and Kaoru had blushed, and Kenshin had pulled the covers over their bodies as they drifted off to sleep.

When Kaoru had awakened the next morning with her beloved Kenshin finally by her side, Kaoru was alarmed that her first thought was how Kenshin's warm body and even breaths did not feel so different from waking up next to Enishi. But then Kenshin had opened his eyes and smiled at her sleepily and leaned over and kissed her long and slow, and then she hadn't thought about anything beyond his messy hair tickling her collarbone and his tongue flicking against her lips, inviting her to return his kisses.

Three more months passed, and Kaoru came with Kenshin to Kyoto to visit their friends and to pay respect to Tomoe. This very morning they had arrived at Tomoe's gravesite bearing beautiful purple irises they had purchased in the market near their lodging.

When they had arrived at the cemetery, they had found chrysanthemums in the flower bucket next to the marker. That was where they had found the note. Kaoru had plucked it off the handle and unrolled it, and she and Kenshin had read the two brief sentences silently.

Now Enishi's note is folded away deep in Kaoru's traveling pack, just like her memories of him are folded away deep in her heart.

Kenshin strokes his fingers over Kaoru's loose hair, breaking her reverie. She looks into his eyes as he says, "I will never forget the relief I felt when I saw you on the island, alive and unharmed."

Kaoru places her hand over Kenshin's and clasps it to her breast. He's told her this before.

But then he continues, "I knew then that I would be grateful to Enishi for the rest of my life for protecting you, for resisting the demons inside of him."

Kaoru swallows and opens her mouth to respond, but when she tries to speak her voice crackles and dies in her throat. In her mind she sees the words that Enishi scrawled to her:

"Because of you, Tomoe smiles again for me." And then, on the other side, painted more hurriedly: "Live well, Kaoru."

Now she lies here awake in this room, so far from home, with Enishi's brush strokes uncoiling into a line between her and her husband where before there was only calm breaths and beating hearts. Kaoru wants to blot out those words, wants to tell Kenshin how she has loved him since she met him, how there has only ever been him and no one else, how, although she cared about Enishi, she will never, ever -

Kenshin leans forward and brushes his nose against hers and smiles again, halting her runaway train of thoughts. "Enishi has finally found peace. You and Tomoe helped him find it." He kisses her softly.

Kaoru returns the kiss and nods, her eyes shining. "Then let's live well, together."

* * *

Tomoe still crouches in the corners of the little shack that Enishi shares with the old man, still floats across his vision when he walks into town to buy firewood or at night when he lies on his thin bedroll, staring at the underside of the roof. She guides his hand when he adds salt to the broth in the pot over the iron brazier, and she reminds him to sweep the ashes into the tin bucket after the fire has died down. She ghosts her luminous fingers across his cheek in sympathy on the rare occasions when he allows himself to think of Kaoru and the family she created long after he left Tokyo and moved back to Kyoto.

Most days, Tomoe's face is calm, clear, and neutral, but sometimes after the first fall frost, or during a spring rainstorm when the earth smells clean, the corners of her mouth curl upward in pure contentment, and Enishi's heart overflows with the happiness and pain that are so tangled up inside of him that it's all the same feeling.

* * *

[the end]

A/N: I'm not usually one for rewriting something I wrote long ago, but I needed to with this one. If this isn't your first read of this story, thanks for coming back. If it is, thank you for giving it a shot!

When I originally wrote this, I had a long, sweeping AU sequel planned. I am going to try to rework that as well, but just into a one-shot that retains the flavor without all the complicated plot twists that I should probably save for my original work! Please look for "Tiger's Den: The Restoration" reboot coming up at some point.


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